Meet Vinny Raniolo

Vinny Raniolo, Class of ’08

“Being located so close to the musical hub of New York City, Purchase is able to have the best professors who are also working and touring world class musicians.  You can take a class anywhere to learn music but during my studies at Purchase we were all treated like future colleagues and learned real world skills.  With so much encouragement you are pretty much assured a career in the arts when you demonstrate passion and dedication to your craft in this school. 

Before I even graduated I was given so much opportunity to work and now 10 years later I’m enjoying a successful career touring the planet performing the music I love with jazz legends and musical giants.  Purchase was the perfect atmosphere for me develop my skills and find my path in music.”

As a touring guitar musician, performer, and educator, Vinny Raniolo is best known for his accompanying skills and is a very high demand rhythm guitarist. His dynamic playing has brought him to 14 countries on three continents – and still growing – having performed in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.

While keeping a busy touring schedule in a variety of musical settings, Vinny has also become a familiar figure on Public Television. Featured previously on three popular shows, including the heavily programmed Tommy Emmanuel and Friends, in Frank Vignola’s Four Generations of Guitar as the youngest generation in the lineage of jazz guitarists with veteran Bucky Pizzarelli and in the Music Gone Public series.

Recording credits include soundtracks for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and Woody Allen’s film Café Society.